Call Chaos
| rarity = Very Rare | type = Combat Instant * | combat_casting_cost = | research_cost = | effects = Every enemy unit on the battlefield is struck by one of the following spell effects, selected at random: * No effect; * ; * ; * ; * (strength ); * ; * ; * . }} Call Chaos is a Very Rare Combat Instant of the Realm. It may only be cast during combat, for a rather high base Casting Cost of . Call Chaos targets every opposing enemy unit on the battlefield with a random spell effect chosen from a list of 7, although there is also a 1-in-8 chance for each to be unaffected during that particular cast. Two of these effects may actually be beneficial to the target, but the rest all mimic Unit Curses and other destructive spells. Call Chaos runs its course instantly, and thus does not linger or require any Upkeep Costs. Only one of its effects can be dispelled afterwards. Effects Call Chaos will cause a flurry of uncontrolled magical energy to sweep through the opposing army. Due to its wild nature, the spell may inflict a variety of effects on the enemy units (some possibly positive!), which may or may not have a lasting effect on the target. Random Effects Call Chaos has a total of 7 possible effects, with an 8th outcome being that the unit avoids the spell entirely. When the spell is cast, the game rolls a random number between 1 and 8 for each enemy unit. If the die comes up as a one, the target will not be struck by any effect on that particular cast. Every other value however, corresponds to a specific spell: # Nothing - the unit avoided the spell; # ; # ; # ; # ; # ; # ; # . There is an equal chance for the game to choose any of the above effects for any unit. As such, while not impossible, it is generally unlikely for every target to be struck by the same effect, unless there are only a few enemy units left. On the other hand, Call Chaos does not check whether a target can actually be affected by the chosen spell, and will perform its animation even if the unit is immune to the effect in question. Most notably, units that have Magic Immunity, or are enchanted with are protected from all of the spell's harmful effects, although Normal Units may still receive an unwanted mutation through . In any case, none of the effects cost the caster any additional - they are all part of the original Call Chaos spell. Option #1: Nothing :If this option is chosen, the target experiences no positive or negative effects from Call Chaos whatsoever. Option #2: Healing :When this option is chosen, the target unit is healed for , as if a spell was cast on it. If the unit is already at full health, or if all of the it has taken is Irreversible, this effect will do nothing. It also won't heal the target if it is an Undead or creature. However, it can restore lost in units as normal otherwise. It may be worth noting though, that the game displays this effect over the wrong map tile, to the lower right of the actual target, which may be confusing if the enemy units are clumped together. Option #3: Chaos Channels :When this option is chosen, the unit is targeted by a spell, randomly granting it either Demon Skin ( ), Demon Wings (speed ), or Chaos Breath (strength Fire Breath). Which of these effects the unit is eligible for depends on its existing abilities - and units can't get Demon Wings, while units with Ranged-, Breath-, or Gaze Attacks can't get Chaos Breath. This effect is entirely permanent, and may not be undone without the destruction of the unit. :Normally, Fantastic Units are not valid targets for . Unfortunately, in this particular case, the game fails to check this condition properly, leading to a bug in the latest official game version, that considers units that are already as possible candidates for this effect. This can not only result in a unit gaining multiple effects at the same time, but may also freeze up the game if the target is no longer eligible for any of them based on the abilities it possesses. This oversight is corrected in the unofficial Insecticide patch. Option #4: Warp Creature :When this option is chosen, the unit is targeted by a spell, forcing it to make a check with a penalty of , or suffer one of the following three detrimental effects, chosen at random: :* Halved ; :* Halved ; :* Resistance reduced to . This is a persistent effect that normally lasts until the end of the battle, although it may be removed by and similar spells. For this purpose, it is considered to have the same Casting Cost as the Unit Curse, rather than Call Chaos itself. However, this does not matter much in the official game, where a programming oversight causes all such spells to be removed automatically when they are targeted by a dispel-type spell. Option #5: Fire Bolt :When this option is chosen, the target unit is struck by a strength Fire Damage attack, much like the spell, although in the official game, this effect actually uses the graphics of the much more powerful . However, it does not deal Area Damage as the animation may imply. Units that possess Fire Immunity defend against this attack as if they had , making it extremely unlikely for them to ever suffer any from this effect. Option #6: Warp Lightning :When this option is chosen, the target unit is struck by 10 consecutive Armor Piercing Conventional Damage attacks of decreasing strength - from all the way down to . The target can make Defense Rolls separately against each one to reduce the , akin to the actual spell. Option #7: Doom Bolt :When this option is chosen, the target unit will suffer exactly points of Doom Damage. Apart from the aforementioned Magic Immunity and , no other defensive abilities or enchantments can reduce or negate this . Confusingly, the game uses the same animation for this effect as for and , although out of the three, this is the only one that actually does , making it somewhat easier to discern in the aftermath. Option #8: Disintegration :When this option is chosen, the game will check the target unit's total "effective" against spells. If it is or less, the unit is immediately and irrevocably destroyed - otherwise it is completely unaffected. Unfortunately, this option also has a bug in the latest official version of the game. Units with or more are actually applied unpredictable random instead of none at all, which affects even those that would otherwise be immune to this Realm, or magic in general. This can make this option much stronger than any of the others, although it is unreliable, and will commonly inflict the intended zero too. The bug is fixed in the Unofficial Patch 1.50. Usage effects. The two units on the right are being healed, the one in the center is struck by Warp Lightning, the one in the bottom left is hit by a Fire Bolt, and the one in the top left may be suffering one of 3 other possible effects.]] Call Chaos may only be cast during combat, for the very high base Casting Cost of . It will immediately target every unit in the enemy army, roll to determine the effect on each one separately, and apply those. The spell itself then dissipates entirely. However, the effect is persistent, and will normally last until the end of the battle, although it can also be dispelled as the Unit Curse of the same name. In addition, is permanent, will remain even after combat is finished, and can only be removed by the destruction of the unit. On the other hand, neither of these effects has an Upkeep Cost of any kind. Acquisition As a Very Rare Spell of the Realm, Call Chaos may become available to any Wizard who acquires at least Spellbooks. With any less, the spell can normally not be learned during the campaign. This is the minimum requirement for it to be traded for, appear in Treasure, or be found in the spoils of victory when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who already knows it. The base chance for Call Chaos to be researchable (at some point) in the campaign is roughly 10% (with books), which gradually increases with the amount of Spellbooks possessed or found during gameplay. With or more, the spell is certain to show up sooner or later, unless acquired from another source. It has a Research Cost of , although its research is quicker for Wizards possessing the Sage Master, and/or Chaos Mastery Retorts; or a bookshelf containing or more. Call Chaos may not be acquired at the start of the game, regardless of the amount of books selected from the starting picks. It must always be either researched or found. However, a bug exists in the official game, that may occasionally allow Call Chaos to be researched with only books despite its Rarity. This can happen if, and only if, the second Spellbook comes from Treasure, as it then allows a random Very Rare Spell to be researched, which has a flat 10% chance of being this spell. This oversight is corrected in the Unofficial Patch 1.50. Strategy Call Chaos is very much a gamble, but has its odds skewed far enough that it is usually quite powerful. So while casting this spell can have unintentionally bad consequences (healing enemy units or imbuing them with chaotic powers), on the whole it is far more likely to cause destruction to a large part of the enemy force. However, it is important to assess whether casting Call Chaos at any particular time justifies its high Casting Cost. In a typical situation, each enemy unit has a 2 in 8 (25%) chance of benefitting from the spell (being healed or ), and an additional 1 in 8 (12.5%) chance of experiencing nothing. This leaves a 5 in 8 (62.5%) chance that the enemy unit will be struck by one of the other, more or less dangerous effects. Specific types of units may also have different odds. For example, Fantastic Units are immune to the effect, so they present less of a risk for Call Chaos to help them instead of harming them. Such units will have a 12.5% chance of being healed, 25% chance of being unaffected, and 62.5% chance of suffering an ill effect. Therefore, if the enemy army is comprised mostly or only of Fantastic Units, casting Call Chaos on them is far less dangerous. This is especially true for creatures or Undead, as they can not be healed either, removing the potential for beneficial effects entirely. Conversely, armies comprised of units with very high values, such as those lead by an , or the guardians of a magical Node, will be immune to some of the negative effects bestowed by Call Chaos. With all or most creatures in the enemy army having a Resistance score of or higher, the and effects will likely do nothing against them, reducing the odds of a negative effect being inflicted on those units to only 37.5%. This can easily make Call Chaos' Casting Cost too high, especially when compared to other destructive spells that -wielding Wizards can utilize. Known Bugs In addition to the design flaw of using different animations than what two of the actual spells with the same effects use, Call Chaos also has multiple bugs of different magnitudes in the official game. Enhancing the confusing animation is the first one, which displays the effect at the wrong location, one tile off to the lower-right of its actual target, which can even make it look as though a unit is struck by two different effects, even though that will never be the case. A much more severe issue is that if Call Chaos is cast by a computer player outside of the defending army's very first turn, the game will crash when attempting to play the animation. However, this problem is typically counteracted by another bug, which will randomly prevent the AI from actually choosing to cast this spell the vast majority of the time. There are also further issues in the resolution of three of the individual effects. The option fails to exclude already units from its targets, which can result in units that receive multiple benefits, and will lock the game up if the unit is no longer valid for any of the effects. Similarly, the option inherits a bug from the spell of the same name, whereby if all three effects are already active on the target, the game freezes in an infinite loop. Finally, when the effect fails to destroy a target, it will instead inflict mostly unpredictable random on it, which is applied without regard to the unit's attributes or abilities. In technical terms, when the unit should not be affected, the game skips only the setting of the , not its application, which results in dealing whatever numbers are in the temporary memory area designated to hold these values as to the target. Because it is applied directly, no immunities or other defenses affect this either. The unofficial Insecticide patch corrects the effect, while the also Unofficial Patch 1.50 fixes the and bugs, and disables the animation to resolve its crash bug, as the AI is now also capable of actively using Call Chaos. This is instead replaced with a temporary solution in the early versions of 1.51 release candidates, while a complete fix, including replacing the ambiguous effect animations, will likely be included in the later versions. Category:Combat Instants Category:Chaos